‘ComEd Four’ jury asks first questions of court as it deliberates bribery case tied to ex-House Speaker Michael Madigan
A federal jury will resume deliberations Thursday in the “ComEd Four” trial alleging a group of executives and lobbyists conspired to bribe then-House Speaker Michael Madigan to win his influence over the utility’s legislative agenda in Springfield.
So far, the jury has deliberated for about 8½ hours over two days without reaching a verdict. They’re scheduled to resume discussions at 10:15 a.m. Thursday.
On Wednesday, the jury had three questions that summoned the parties to U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber’s courtroom.
First, the jurors wanted to know the purpose for the date of Nov. 18, 2015, listed in the charges. The date marks the statute of limitations, which is five years before the filing of the indictment on Nov. 18, 2020. To find the defendants guilty of those counts, the jury has to find that at least one of the conspirators “committed an overt act in furtherance” of the conspiracy within the five-year period.
After conferring with the parties, Leinenweber’s response read: “Under the law of statute of limitations, a person may only be prosecuted for a conspiracy if at least one of the overt acts of the conspiracy occurred within five years of the indictment being filed.”
In the second question, which came in about 2 p.m., the jury asked for a definition of “overt.” Since the word was described in the jury instructions as any act in furtherance of the conspiracy, all parties agreed that the response would be for the jury to refer to those instructions.
About an hour later, the jury requested a copy of the indictment, which Leinenweber had already decided should go back with the panel for their deliberations.
Charged are Michael McClain, 75, a longtime ComEd contract lobbyist and one of Madigan’s closest confidants; former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, 64, a lawyer and onetime rising star in Chicago’s corporate world; Jay Doherty, 69, a lobbyist and former president of the City Club of Chicago; and John Hooker, 74, who over a 44-year career worked his way from the utility’s mailroom to become its point man in Springfield.
The indictment alleged the four conspired to funnel $1.3 million in payments to ghost “subcontractors,” largely through Doherty’s company, who were actually Madigan’s cronies.
The utility also hired a clout-heavy law firm run by political operative Victor Reyes, distributed numerous college internships within Madigan’s 13th Ward fiefdom and blatantly backed former McPier chief Juan Ochoa, the friend of a Madigan ally, for an $80,000-a-year seat on the utility’s board of directors, the indictment alleged.
In return, prosecutors say, Madigan used his influence over the General Assembly to help ComEd score a series of huge legislative victories that not only rescued the company from financial instability but led to record-breaking, billion-dollar profits.
Among them was the 2011 smart grid bill that set a built-in formula for the rates ComEd could charge customers, avoiding battles with the Illinois Commerce Commission, according to the charges. ComEd also leaned on Madigan’s office to help pass the Future Energy Jobs Act in 2016, which kept the formula rate in place and also rescued two nuclear plants run by an affiliated company, Exelon Generation.
The indictment charges a total of nine counts, including a main bribery conspiracy count lodged against each of the four defendants. Other charges include circumventing internal business controls and the falsification of business records to allegedly hide the payments ComEd was making.
Defense attorneys have argued over and over that the government is seeking to criminalize legal lobbying and job recommendations that are at the center of the state’s legitimate political system.
They ripped the government’s star witness, former ComEd executive Fidel Marquez, as a liar and opportunist who was so terrified when FBI agents confronted him in January 2019 that he flipped without even consulting a lawyer and agreed to secretly record his friends.
“We are here because the government scared Fidel Marquez to death,” attorney Jacqueline Jacobson, who represents Hooker, said in her closing argument.
Marquez eventually pleaded guilty to bribery conspiracy and is awaiting sentencing.
In rebuttal, the lead prosecutor on the case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu, told the jury that the efforts to woo Madigan were like a “corruption toll” similar to something motorists must pay to continue on their trip on the state tollway.
And Madigan was the gatekeeper, Bhachu said.
“It was a corruption toll to make sure that Mr. Madigan was not an obstacle to their legislative agenda,” Bhachu said. “And they paid that toll every month, from 2011 to 2019, when they were caught.”
The ComEd Four case marks the most significant public corruption trial since former Gov. Rod Blagojevich was convicted 12 years ago.
It has struck at the heart of Illinois politics itself, holding up a mirror not only to Madigan’s vaunted political operation but also the entire system of relationships between lobbyists, legislators and government-regulated utilities that rely on the General Assembly for its profits.
Trying to read tea leaves on how long the jury might deliberate is usually an effort in futility. Leinenweber told the parties that if there is no verdict by Thursday, he’ll ask the jury if they want to deliberate Friday as well, even though Fridays have been a day off since the trial began.
